Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship on the international competitiveness of the horse racing industry.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the contribution that horse racing makes to our sporting culture and in particular to the rural economy.
The Gambling Act Review is wide-ranging and aims to ensure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. We will publish a White Paper setting out our conclusions and next steps in the coming weeks, with appropriate consideration of impacts being made at all stages.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the pace of full-fibre rollout in (a) Wraysbury, (b) Eton, (c) Old Windsor and (d) Windsor constituency.
Answered by Matt Warman
Wraysbury, Eton, Old Windsor and the Windsor constituency fall within areas that are commercially active. Currently 95.5% of the constituency of Windsor have access to Superfast broadband, which is only slightly below the UK average of 96.7%.
An Openreach Superfast contract has been completed to increase the provision of full-fibre broadband to residents and businesses in Windsor. A Gigaclear contract is also in progress and moving forwards, having previously been held up by a wayleave for Windsor Great Park.
Windsor constituents have made use of the national Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme too, having applied for 52 vouchers worth more than £102k. Up to £210 million is available through the new UK Gigabit Voucher, launched on 8 April for any eligible homes or businesses.
Following the launch of Project Gigabit in March, the government will begin the roll out of gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach places in the UK. East Berkshire is part of Lot 26 in phase 2 and Building Digital UK will begin a rolling Open Market Review (OMR) process from June 2021 to give us a national view of commercial build plans for the following three years.
Telecoms providers will be asked to provide existing and planned coverage at an individual premise level and we will use this information, following appropriate due diligence, to create a complete picture of forecast gigabit-capable infrastructure coverage for the UK. The OMR process will validate and update existing maps to account for any amendments to existing coverage and/or plans for broadband infrastructure.
The OMR will be followed by a Public Review to ensure that the views of anyone involved in network building are captured and considered. This will be publicised via Gov.uk and the local authority website.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made on the rollout of full-fibre broadband in (a) Wraysbury, (b) Eton, (c) Old Windsor and (d) Windsor constituency.
Answered by Matt Warman
Wraysbury, Eton, Old Windsor and the Windsor constituency fall within areas that are commercially active. Currently 95.5% of the constituency of Windsor have access to Superfast broadband, which is only slightly below the UK average of 96.7%.
An Openreach Superfast contract has been completed to increase the provision of full-fibre broadband to residents and businesses in Windsor. A Gigaclear contract is also in progress and moving forwards, having previously been held up by a wayleave for Windsor Great Park.
Windsor constituents have made use of the national Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme too, having applied for 52 vouchers worth more than £102k. Up to £210 million is available through the new UK Gigabit Voucher, launched on 8 April for any eligible homes or businesses.
Following the launch of Project Gigabit in March, the government will begin the roll out of gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach places in the UK. East Berkshire is part of Lot 26 in phase 2 and Building Digital UK will begin a rolling Open Market Review (OMR) process from June 2021 to give us a national view of commercial build plans for the following three years.
Telecoms providers will be asked to provide existing and planned coverage at an individual premise level and we will use this information, following appropriate due diligence, to create a complete picture of forecast gigabit-capable infrastructure coverage for the UK. The OMR process will validate and update existing maps to account for any amendments to existing coverage and/or plans for broadband infrastructure.
The OMR will be followed by a Public Review to ensure that the views of anyone involved in network building are captured and considered. This will be publicised via Gov.uk and the local authority website.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the evidential basis for the (a) closure of covid-secure outdoor sporting venues and (b) restriction of (i) tennis, (ii) golf and (ii) swimming lessons; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of those restrictions on the health and wellbing of people who use those facilities.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus. That’s why we made sure that people could exercise at least once a day even during the height of lockdown - and why we opened up grassroots sport and leisure facilities as soon as it was safe to do so.
Nobody wanted to be in the position of having to introduce further National Restrictions. However as the Prime Minister said, with the virus spreading faster than expected we cannot allow our health system to be overwhelmed. Therefore, from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December indoor and outdoor leisure will need to close. The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions.
In order for these measures to have the greatest impact, we will all need to sacrifice doing some things that we would otherwise like to do, for a short period of time. We have not introduced further exemptions because when you unpick at one activity the effectiveness of the whole package is compromised. As soon as we're in a position to start lifting restrictions, grassroots sports will be one of the first to return.